Competition in Health Care

One of the trends marking the continuing transformation of the U.S. health care industry is the dramatic increase in the pace of competition. The heightened competition is taking place among hospitals, among health plans, among physician groups, among drug companies, between physicians and hospitals, and between hospitals and health plans. But one must ask, with all the health care competition is it keeping the United States healthy?

The known competition among health care entities recognized would be controlling cost, enhancing quality of care, and increasing accessibility of care. Once controlled cost is evaluated it is seen as a benefit for the patient yet uncompensated care is burden for the health care providers, tax payers and other consumers, which in turn can increase the cost of health care. Enhancing quality of care without increasing cost is what consumers wish to have yet it is personally known that good doctor bad system is what always prevails. The last would be increased accessibility of care which is in the placement of the physicians that take care of the patients.

If patients are unable to have easy access to a physician then they are unable to get the care required. The Affordable Health Care Act, which is also known as The Health care reform act was passed by congress and signed into law by the President in March 2010. With health care always a problem for the world, the Health care reform act gives patients better health security by putting in place comprehensive health reforms that hold insurance companies accountable, lower health care cost, guarantee more choice, and enhance the quality for all Americans.

According to Rivers & Glover (2008) various perspectives of competition, the nature of service quality, health system costs, and patient satisfaction in health care were examined. While directly dependent of strategic planning quality of care and health care system cost are considered as cause of customer satisfaction. This competition ensures there is better service to satisfy the needs of the customers (Rivers, & Glover, 2008)

In 2004 the Federal Trade Commission/Department of Justice reported a improvement of Health care which was A Dose of Competition appeals to efficiency arguments in promoting a wide range of health care market reforms this was due to the successful competition and the use of competitive intelligence (Rosenthal, & Daniels, 2006)

Reference

Rivers, P. A., & Glover, S. H. (2008). Health care competition, strategic mission, and patient satisfaction: research model and propositions. Journal of Health Organisation and Management. doi:10.1108/14777260810916597 Rosenthal, M., & Daniels, N. (2006). Beyond Competition: The Normative Implications of Consumer-Driven Health Plans. Journal of Health Politics Policy and Law. doi:10.1215/03616878-2005-013